"Repentance is the daughter of hope and the denial of despair." ~ St. John Climacus

thought one:
before one glibbly asserts that "all sins are forgiveable," remember that repentance is a gift, not a self-willed appropriation of the ever-refueled "Free Parking" of grace.

If one is planning to sin and then to ask repentance:
1) doubt your salvation
2) hope you don't die first (that'd be a REAL hard one to explain...)
3) read Hebrews
4) hope that the door you open to Satan isn't kicked off it's hinges and your whole house burned down.

(sorry for switching into second person. grazi, mein Turi)

thought two:

“ 'Repentance is the daughter of hope and the denial of despair.' ~ St. John Climacus

It is not despondency but eager expectation; it is not to feel that one has reached an impasse, but to take the way out. It is not self-hatred but the affirmation of my true self as made in God’s image. To repent is to look, not downward at my own shortcomings, but upward at God’s love; not backward with self-reproach, but forward with trustfulness. It is to see, not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of Christ I can yet become. " [sorry for forgetting to cite my sources! muchas gracias to the wisdom of Fr. Stephen Freeman]

i just want to bold, underline, and italize the whole kit n kaboodle... prepositions and all.

okay, so i didn't find the above quote or even stumble upon the commentary. it was electronically spoon-fed, as it were, but sweet riches and thank goodness for it! what a faith, yall! be grateful today. rejoice! we are free from guilt, not by denial or destraction, but in the most real of all realities... our Savior has made us WHOLE.

blessed be God.

thought three:

take heart, comrades. winter will not last forever.